Talk kicks off Islam Week

"Women in Islam" might have been the topic for last night's lecture in the David Rittenhouse Laboratory, but the speaker, Iman Badawi, only mentioned women in the last 10 minutes of her hour-long talk. The lecture, which was organized by the Muslim Students Association, was part of a week-long series of presentations on Islam in celebration of Islam Awareness Week. Badawi, a science teacher from Albany, N.Y., began by explaining that the MSA organizers originally told her to speak on "The Empowerment of Women in Islam." She proceeded to speak at length about the nature of her religion and the concept of empowerment in Islam. According to Badawi, in Islam, "empowerment means the person who submits to Allah the best, the one who is most humble for the sake of Allah." Badawi explained the five principles of empowerment: to love Allah and Muhammad above all else, to fear punishment and believe in the afterlife, to hold hope for Allah's reward, to trust and rely upon Allah and to possess the knowledge necessary to understand these beliefs. "In our religion, when we speak about empowerment and Islam, women become like a non-issue," Badawi said. "Everything I've just said has nothing to do with whether you're a man or a woman.? Nothing matters. If you're a human being, Allah created you for the same purpose, and all these things apply." Badawi acknowledged that women are treated as second-class citizens in some Muslim nations but attributed this to the failure of these countries to properly follow the Muslim faith. Despite Badawi's statement that gender does not matter in Islam, many members of the audience had questions about the treatment of women in Muslim countries. Audience members asked about hijaab -- the traditional Islamic head-covering and code of dress -- female circumcision and Islam's view of spousal abusers. Audience members were very interested in Badawi's unconventional view of women in Islam. "I was expecting the traditional 'women aren't oppressed in Islam,'" College senior and MSA Co-Vice President of the Suzanna Basha said. "But it's not about women. I appreciate the angle [Badawi] took." Raymond Eid, who teaches a course on Middle Eastern history at the Academy of Lifelong Learning in Delaware, said, "I enjoyed the lecture very much. I also admire her Arabic -- it's flawless!" Events scheduled for the rest of the week include a talk on the relationship between Palestinians and Israelis tonight at 7 p.m. in Annenberg Room 110; a lecture of the theories of evolution and creationism tomorrow at 7 p.m. in DRL Room A5; and on Thursday, a talk on the responsibilities Muslims have to people of other religions at 7 p.m. in DRL Room A5. The week wraps up on Friday with a prayer service at 1:15 p.m. in Hill House, followed by a screening of The Message at 8 p.m. in the Hill television room.